North Downs Way

Went for a walk on the North Downs Way a week or so ago. It seems there has been a lot of trimming back and brush clearing. I tried to capture the contrast of the branches and their reflections in the River Wey, not altogether successfully and converted to black & white.

Sculpture of the Artist

Sumner St, Southwark, London

There’s more going on here than meets the eye. Below this statue on the plinth is found a plaque reading, “Non Plaudite, Modo Pecuniam Jacite,” which translates from Latin as, “Do not applaud, just throw money,” perhaps a comment on the assumption of the art world into that of commerce so nearby?

I discovered this piece changes in response to the viewer at Atlas Obscura (although I did not witness any change myself).

Sugimoto Theatre

Hayward Gallery, London

One more little joke before we leave Sugimoto and the Hayward. When you left the exhibit, you could go up the stairs to the cafeteria where a small theatre had been set up, screening a short video about his work on the Enoura Observatory in Japan. There was no one there when I entered, nor when I left. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make my own homage to his theatre pictures by brightening the screen and adding a small glow and darkening the side windows.

Sugimoto Space

Hayward Gallery, London

And, as always when I’m visiting a museum or gallery, I’m as interested in the space and the geometry as in the art exhibited (and finding some place for my reflection). Click any of the images below to see them full-size.

More Sugimoto

Hayward Gallery, London

I never knew about these metallic constructions of his. In the first image below I’ve centered and isolated the structure in black and white on its mirrored plinth, in the next I show a little more, including the reflection of a passerby and, in the final image I show the whole room with the object centred so as to cover the structure shown above (click on any of the smaller images to see them enlarged – clicking through to the web site first if you’re seeing this in an email).

Sugimoto

Hayward Gallery, London

It would be hard to overstate the scale and impressiveness of the Hiroshi Sugimoto survey now at the Hayward. My pictures of both the exhibit and the gallery will occupy these pages for the next few days. Click on any image below to enlarge them all (you may have to click the post-title above to get to the website first if you’re seeing this in email).

Barbican Space

Barbican Centre, London

After the Tate Modern I made my way over to the Barbican Centre, expecting to see an exhibit of Simryn Gill photos adverted to me by the Saltoun Gallery. As it turned out, Gill was just a small part of a much larger exhibit on ecofeminism and its illustrious (photographic) history with works by Gauri Gill, Francesca Woodman, Simryn Gill, Fay Godwin and many others.

Construction

Brightwells Yard, Farnham

I shot this looking out the window because I liked the geometry of it. The men were about to dig up a lot of the brick so they could lay some conduit along the base of the building, then cover it all up again. I thought of it as a black and white image at the time because of the strong shadows and the triangle formed by the two men and the circle of conduit in the lower left.

Leaving Paris

Gare du Nord, Paris

We took a bus from the area of our hotel to the Gare du Nord to catch the EuroStar back to London. Click any of the images below to see them full-sized (you may need to click the post title first if you’re viewing this in an email or on social media).

Walk to the Musée d’Orsay

Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, Paris

Our first full day we walked through the Tuileries Garden and over the Seine to the Musée d’Orsay which I had purchased timed tickets for a month in advance. Click any of the pictures below to see them all larger.

Modern Art Redux

Scottish National Museum of Modern Art

After a walk by the Water of Leith and the Dean Village we eventually made it back to the Scottish National Galleries of Modern Art. There are actually 2 buildings at opposite ends of a small park. In the morning we walked though Two. In the park there’s a construction of an open room with half-silvered glass inviting spectral self portraits.

We returned there in the afternoon for a coffee and then made our way to Gallery One. Click any of the images below to see them bigger (you may need to click on the post title to go to the web site if you’re seeing this in email or social media).